And Yet, I Won't Stop (5)

"Eisa-sama, are you really leaving?"

On the night before we were due to enter a town in the Small States—in other words, my last night with the caravan—Airena, who was sharing the watch with me by the campfire, asked me.

She sounded very concerned.

But she wasn't worried because she'd heard that I planned to cross the Man-Eating Great Swamp.

She knew that, while such an undertaking would be nothing short of suicide for an ordinary human, I, as a High Elf, could manage it well enough.

So what concerned Airena wasn't the danger of the journey but whether I was in the right state of mind to endure traveling alone.

In other words, if I boiled it down to its barest essentials, she was asking, 'Wouldn't you be lonely traveling alone?'

Being asked so directly was a little embarrassing.

Of course, I would probably feel a little lonely.

Traveling with the elf caravan had been more fun than I'd expected.

My heart had been worn down, after all.

But, yeah...

"Thank you, Airena. I'll be fine."

I probably would be.

After all, as I just said, traveling with the elf caravan had been fun.

That meant I was in a positive enough frame of mind to enjoy it.

So I thought I could keep walking without stopping.

I'd been through a lot with Kaeha, but I had no regrets about meeting her.

Looking back on everything, I was satisfied and at peace with all of it, including the way it ended.

If the incident in which the nobles of the Kingdom of Roodria enslaved the elves hadn't happened, I might have spent much more time at her side. But that wouldn't necessarily have been a good thing.

If that had happened, Kaeha and I would have been extremely unlikely to have children; Shizuki and Mizuha would never have been born, I would never have met Win, and the Yosogi style would have remained only within me after her death.

That would feel a little too lonely.

Perhaps if I'd followed that path, I would have been satisfied with the result.

In the end, it's all just a matter of ifs and maybes.

I won't say imagining it is pointless, but it isn't worth letting it pull me into denying the ending I reached.

Eisa-sama, ... you're amazing, after all."

Airena said it as though squeezing the words out of her chest.

She was comparing me to herself.

Apparently, Airena was still being dragged along by her grief over Kreias and Maltena's deaths.

From a human perspective, ten years had already passed since Kreias and Maltena died, but to Airena, an elf, only ten years had passed.

It couldn't be helped.

"Then, Airena, will you come with me on my journey?"

So I tried asking her.

Come to think of it, I'd never taken a long journey with Airena before.

At most, we'd ridden together from the royal capital to the northern mountain range.

But if I traveled with her, we'd have to avoid the Man-Eating Great Swamp, which was a dangerous region.

Even as I thought that, Airena shook her head.

"No, I'm truly... truly happy you asked. But I'll remain with this caravan a little longer. I also need to receive a letter from Win-kun."

She said with a smile.

Well, yes, that was her choice, too.

But I suspect that, if I'd said traveling alone would be too hard, she must have asked with the intention of coming along.

Even so, she wouldn't use me to heal her own grief.

That was a very Airena-like choice.

For a while, we both silently watched the campfire.

A fire spirit swayed gently amid the flames.

I wonder how long we remained that way.

"But I have one personal request to make of you, Eisa-sama."

Airena then broached the subject.

I wondered what it could be.

It was unusual for her to make a personal request of me.

Airena's requests had always been things like asking me to consider the elves as a whole, or matters in which many people might be sacrificed—things no one but me could do anything about.

"If you find White Lake during your travels, I'd like you to take me there someday."

Ah, so that was what she meant.

Her request made perfect sense.

"We named our party White Lake because we wanted to become adventurers capable of finding it someday."

White Lake was the name of the team Airena, Kreias, and Maltena belonged to when they were adventurers.

At the same time, it was also the name of a lake that appeared in fairy tales passed down among elves and High Elves.

It was a pristine lake sitting alone in an endless expanse of pure white land.

"The three of us can no longer find White Lake together... but even so, I want to see that lake at least once."

I nodded at Airena's words.

I could sympathize with how she felt.

But fulfilling that wish would probably be more than a little difficult.

Because if my guess was correct, the endless expanse of pure white land where White Lake was said to exist... probably referred to the space above the clouds.

In other words, it was a world of true giants whose very existence was uncertain.

Even if I thoroughly explored this world, it was honestly doubtful that I'd find a way to get there.

But if Airena wanted it, I'd at least make the effort.

It wasn't a journey I needed to rush, and aside from seeing the eastern country the Yosogi style came from, I had no other grand purpose.

I didn't think anyone else was likely to find it, either, so I'd take responsibility for finding it.

Under the warm light of the campfire, the night passed slowly.